Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is on the right track with the introduction of his Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) but he also needs to be on the fast-track.

sivamurugan pandian 210508 According to USM Deputy Dean of Social Sciences Siva Murugan Pandian, the premier's performance edges on how expeditiously these indicators can be implemented.

"People are no longer interested in rhetoric or long term results. They are interested in short term results so the implementation of those KPIs are important," he added.

He said in order to win the trust of the people, Najib must not stop at just assigning the key result areas to ministers but must be hands on and monitor the progress of the proposals himself.

Bridging the gap

On July 11, the prime minister announced six national key results areas (KRAs). Yesterday, the KPIs with specific targets for evaluation were set for all six KRAs.

The six key result areas are education, crime, corruption, helping the low income group, public transport and rural basic infrastructure.

najib 100 day bash 110709 najib 02 However, Siva said the implementation of Najib's KPIs will depend on the bureaucracy being able to support his vision.

"The top policy makers may be able to understand Najib's vision but whether the bureaucracy understands that is another question," he said, adding that it will be interesting to see how Najib bridges this gap.

Siva said Najib should also focus on the quality of the service sector to make it more "service orientated" to assist the implementation process.

The academic gives Najib a thumbs up for his efforts as the premier is willing to take risks and squarely identifies his goals.

"It is not easy to curb corruption. Many PMs come and go but Najib has identified the problems specifically,” he said.

Workable objectives

According to Siva, the KPIs also reveal his leadership style as Najib "knows what he wants and he knows how to make decisions unlike his predecessor."

merdeka center youth survey 291107 ibrahim suffian Echoing this sentiment, Merdeka Center director Ibrahim Suffian welcomed the KPIs, saying the specificity of goals announced in the KPI will enable people to gauge Najib's administration.

"People can see what he has achieved and reward or punish his administration accordingly," he said.

Ibrahim pointed out that the KPIs set forth is specific such as cutting down street crime by 20 percent by 2010 and building 1,500 km roads in Sabah and Sarawak by the end of 2012.

He said it correctly identifies various sectors that the public has been talking about for a number of years attaching a specific timeline to deal with the problems.

"Najib and his team have identified the problem, now is time for the implementation," he added.